Economic Growth with Energy

M. Shahid Alam ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper works out some of the basic properties of an economy with energy as a factor of production. The economy now consists of streams of energy conversions that direct energy to the production of goods and services. The focus on energy generates a variety of insights. It yields a new taxonomy of economies and economic activities; allows a better grasp of the tasks performed by labor and capital; raises the prospect of examining growth as the speeding up of machines; and identifies greater use of energy as an important source of growth. In addition, we use these results to explain the near stagnation in living standards in agrarian economies in the millennia before 1800, and the dramatic acceleration in growth since that date.

Keywords: Economy; energy; capital; labor; growth; sources of growth; Adam Smith; John Stuart Mill; industrial revolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q40 B0 O40 O47 Q01 D2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-his and nep-hpe
Date: 2006-12-25
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:1260

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